Pork Spends Millions In Mass. On Kennedys

Published on March 11th, 2009

Courtesy AP

What better way to spend those hard-earned tax dollars?

More than one out of every five dollars of the $126 million Massachusetts is receiving in earmarks from a $410 billion federal spending package is going to help preserve the legacy of the Kennedys.

The bill includes $5.8 million for the planning and design of a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate. The funding may also help support an endowment for the institute.

The bill also includes $22 million to expand facilities at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum and $5 million more for a new gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a park system in downtown Boston named after Kennedy’s mother and built on land opened up by the Big Dig highway project.

The billions in earmarks in the federal spending bill have been a source of contention.President Barack Obama signed the bill which he described as imperfect. He said it must signal an “end to the old way of doing business.”

Critics led by Republican Sen. John McCain have denounced the 8,000 pet projects contained in the bill as pork.

Somehow they missed the Chappaquiddick Memorial.

24 users responded in " Pork Spends Millions In Mass. On Kennedys "

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# 1 brm said, on March 11th, 2009 at 4:25 pm

If I hear ’shovel-ready’ one more time, I’m going to scream.

# 2 Paddy-O said, on March 11th, 2009 at 4:29 pm

Shovel ready should be digging the graves of those in Congress who voted yes on this POS.

# 3 e said, on March 11th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

But Obama said there needs to be earmark reform, and that he was going to go through earmarks “line-by-line”! So this story can’t be right!

# 4 CubicleJockey said, on March 11th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

Calling spending on the Rose Kennedy Greenway an effort to preserve the Kennedy legacy is like calling spending to pave the runway at Reagan National Airport spending to preserve Ronnie’s legacy. They named a park after someone. It happens.

And next time you decide to criticize the funding Massachusetts is getting, take a look at the federal spending received per tax dollar paid. In 2005, the state received 0.82 per dollar of tax paid. That was good for 40th in the US. All those Kennedy haters in Alabama (7th), Alaska (3rd), Kentucky (9th), Louisiana (4th), Mississippi (2nd), New Mexico (1st), North Dakota (6th), South Dakota (8th), West Virginia (5th), and the Real Americans of Virginia (10th) can complain about this spending when they send back the federal money financed by taxes on Massachusetts, New York (42nd), and California’s (48th) citizens.

On behalf of Senator Kennedy, I’ll also accept your thanks for health insurance in about 2 years.

Source: http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/22685.html#ftsbs-timeseries-20071016

# 5 Tex said, on March 11th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

Some pigs are more equal than others.

# 6 CubicleJockey said, on March 11th, 2009 at 5:02 pm

No, he said he would go through the budget line-by-line and eliminate programs we don’t need. It was Senator McCain who said that earmark reform was necessary and that we “will know their names.”

Why did McCain have to be the President to reveal their names? It isn’t because he, I don’t know, made a calculated political decision that says “doing business with these people is more important than having people call me a hypocrite?” Not St. John!

# 7 BubbaRay said, on March 11th, 2009 at 5:04 pm

#6, CubicleJockey, you may be right about your figures, but how much of that money by each state went into “pork” projects? Some, probably, but 20%? I’ll leave it to you to google the results, since you brought it up.

# 8 deowll said, on March 11th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

When Jackson was elected the phrase was heard, “to the victor goes the spoils.”

The spoils system is still alive and doing better than ever and I doubt very much if Obama is going to make much of an effort to change it.

# 9 Thermo said, on March 11th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

Hopefully Patrick Kennedy will move to Mass and get the hell out of RI

# 10 jobs said, on March 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

#9 You can keep Patches and take a few more. I’ll never understand why us folks from Massachusetts always talk about change yet vote for the same hacks year after year after year.

Meanwhile our bridges, roads and schools are falling apart. The good Governor wants to raise taxes on everything from gas to candy.

# 11 bernardino said, on March 11th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

Warms the cockles of my heart to see the losers who voted for McCain have a stove to sit around and spit.

Accomplishes about as much as it ever did. Though, as a wise man once said, at least it keeps the Republicans out of the bowling alleys.

# 12 faxon said, on March 11th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

I can hardly wait for this old Kennedy scum to depart. Drunken murderer.

# 13 bill said, on March 11th, 2009 at 6:50 pm

I’ve always thought that we should hold the election on April 15th.

Really think about all of this when we write that check on April 14th or so..

I don’t know about you but now that I’m unemployed, taxes are really really really going to hurt this year.

I hope I hope you ‘choke’ on all the ‘pork’!

# 14 OvenMaster said, on March 11th, 2009 at 7:02 pm

#10: not to mention putting RFID chips in the inspection stickers, charging road tax by the mile and jacking tolls up on the Pike.

Yeah, it’s fun here in Massachusetts. A real ball.

# 15 BigBoyBC said, on March 11th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

Ah yes, the more things “change” the more they stay the same…

# 16 Billy Bob said, on March 11th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

Who is this KD Martin person and why is he being allowed to portray a Democrat in a bad light on Dvorak.org?

# 17 Carcarius said, on March 11th, 2009 at 9:40 pm

They should sell Kennedy assets in order to decrease the deficit. We’d probably be $200 million in the black as a result.

# 18 e said, on March 11th, 2009 at 10:20 pm

Oh.. I think I see. Earmarks are no good in the “budget” but because this is only a “spending bill” it’s completely different. That makes perfect sense now.

And if “my state” pays lots of tax then it should be rewarded with lots of useless pork programs to make up for the extra tax dollars “your state” gets to assist its development! That’s it! At last, I have seen the light!

P.S. I voted for Nader.

# 19 Tom Squire said, on March 11th, 2009 at 10:31 pm

Guys guys, a few tax dollars spent on non-essentials here and there wont hurt, I mean seriously, 5 dollars out of $126 million is a puny amount compared to what we have in reserve. If all else fails we can just sell off those expensive black ops prison facilities and unlisted nuclear submarines we have in the bering sea…

# 20 KD Martin said, on March 11th, 2009 at 11:45 pm

#16, Billy Bob,

I don’t invent the news, that was Newsweek’s job. I post it here so informed folks can comment on it. If you have a problem with your senator/representave, write them.

Democrats and Republicans that are outside bounds are fair game for any reporting. Doesn’t matter which party to me.

# 21 Mr Diesel said, on March 12th, 2009 at 4:15 am

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate??

Will it have a wing dedicated to Mary Jo Kopechne?

Let’s see now, Obomba has beaten Bush in lying prior to and after getting into office.

No lobbyists – Obomba has over ten already in his administration.
No earmarks – signed a bill yesterday with over 8,000.
Bills on the Internet for 5 days – Four big ones so far and not one on the Internet for 5 days to review.

Change I can believe in.

Tip
Weapons and ammo

# 22 LibertyLover said, on March 12th, 2009 at 4:54 am

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate

I just LOVE it when politicians get awards for spending tax dollars.

Since when did politicians become philanthropists for spending tax money?

# 23 guiltywhiteliberal said, on March 12th, 2009 at 11:39 am

Bill clinton should have let Ted Kenndey drive Monica Lewinski home and he would have been in the clear. And speaking of shovel ready, that’s Ted Kennedy, he really is shovel ready!

# 24 EvilPoliticians said, on March 14th, 2009 at 4:34 am

Disgusting

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